It's 'Snow' fun!

Well what a week, this snowy weather has played havoc with some of my clients being able to make their appointments and I haven't left the the house since Sunday - I'm going a bit stir crazy to be honest.  So I have decided to put my spare time to good use and write about the benefits of massage, particularly for those who are active in sport.

Sports massage can help promote a healthy lifestyle as well as helping to enhancing the performance of an active sportsperson. Here are some of the ways sports massage can help benefit you:

• Relief of stress, tension & pain
• Enhancing posture
• Re-energising exhausted bodies
• Improvement of blood circulation and lymphatic flow
• Increased muscle tone and length
• Improving range of movement
• Help to prepare the body for competition, both physically and mentally
• Improved recovery rate after an event by helping the body to remove metabolic waste such as lactic acid
• Helps assit the body in injury rehabilitation
• Remodelling of scar tissue to help reduce pain and to avoid the risk of further injury

So if you are going to make any New Year resolutions for 2011 make one of them to book up for a sports massage treatment, it's one resolution you will enjoy sticking to!

Have a great Christmas and wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year.

Jo

Prevention is better than cure!

Please don't make the mistake of thinking that remedial massage is only for those people suffering with an injury, as the old adage goes 'prevention is better than cure'.  I treat a number of clients who use massage as part of a maintenance programme to help prevent injury rather than leaving it until its too late.  Massage can help to keep muscles and the fascia that encases our muscles relaxed and tension free.  When muscles are relaxed the flow of blood into and around the muscle is improved, fresh oxygen and nutrients help to keep the muscle healthy which gives you a better range of movement (ROM) when exercising.  A tight muscle limits your ROM which can cause the muscle to over stretch and in worse cases tear.  Regular massage and stretching, as part of a maintenance programme can therefore help loosen areas of tightness and greatly reduce your chances of injury.

So my advice, use remedial massage regularly every 4-6 weeks as part of your training schedule, you will reduce your risk of injury and improve your performance.